Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus shared by a plurality of users, a control method of the image forming apparatus, and a storage medium.
Description of the Related Art
In recent years, because an image forming apparatus such as a multifunction peripheral introduced into an office is used by a plurality of users, various functions have been realized, which identify the users and execute authentication (also referred to as “personalization”) to enable utilization of the image forming apparatus with enhanced convenience.
For example, in printout processing, if a plurality of print jobs is transmitted from a host computer, the image forming apparatus does not output the print jobs instantly, but executes user identification/authentication processing to identify the print jobs transmitted from the user. Then, the image forming apparatus extracts only print jobs transmitted from the relevant user as output targets, and displays a list on an operation screen to prompt the user to output user's own print jobs only. With this function, the user can easily select the print jobs. Alternatively, a function of preferentially displaying user settings on the operation screen by recording functions or settings frequently used by each of the users has been also realized.
Although personalization is useful for improving the convenience, the user has to first execute personal identification/authentication. Generally, a method of identifying or authenticating a user with a user name and a password, which are input through an operation screen has been employed. However, inputting information through a keyboard is a problem because time and effort will be required for such an operation.
On the other hand, an authentication method using an authentication device such as a contactless integrated circuit (IC) card has been also employed frequently. However, the authentication device is not always an optimum method because it costs a user for each unit.
Recently, an authentication system has been realized, which provides a log-in screen for displaying icons of pre-registered users on an operation screen without input of the user name and allows a user to simply select an icon to execute log-in operation. This authentication system is referred to as “simple authentication”.
In the simple authentication, an icon image unique to the registered user can be registered, and the user can visually recognize and select user's own icon from a plurality of icons displayed on the screen.
In the simple authentication, a user may be asked to input a password for authentication after selecting an icon if security has to be taken into consideration. However, authentication which does not have to input the password is also implemented if a user is only asked to execute personalization.
As described above, in the simple authentication, unlike the conventional authentication system, the user can execute personal identification/authentication without inputting the user's name and the password through a keyboard, and personalization unique to the user can be realized. Therefore, it is advantageous to improve convenience by simplifying the operation procedure.
On the other hand, if a number of registered users is increased to a certain number or more, it will become difficult to display icons of all the users on a single screen. In this case, the user has to display a next log-in screen by flipping or scrolling the log-in screen (authentication screen) on the operation screen several times to check whether the own icon exists in that screen. Therefore, operation or visual recognition will become complicated.
In order to address the above-described problems, a technique relating to the simple authentication is discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2017-19197. In the technique, a function of sorting a user list is employed by means of using one or more pieces of information from among history information of the user who has executed log-in operation in the past, ownership information of a registered print job, and usage frequency information of the user. The technique allow the user to easily execute personal identification.